The Roblox gaming platform reported a significant increase in the level of user activity and growth in sales of the in-game currency Robux in the first quarter of 2023.
Source: Pixabay.com
The founder and CEO of Roblox, David Baszucki, during the company’s earnings report for the first quarter of this year, said that the number of daily active users of the platform increased by 22% and amounted to 66 million people, which is a record result. The total number of hours of user activity on this virtual gaming territory in the first quarter amounted to 14.5 billion, an increase of 23% year-on-year.
Baszucki also said that the number of users in the segment from 13 years old and older showed an increase of 31% year-on-year, which is a good signal from the point of view of the prospects for further growth of the company. According to forecasts, in the coming quarters, these gamers will spend more time on the platform and increase their costs.
The CEO of the company stated that the long-term goal of Roblox is 1 billion daily active users.
According to the results of the first quarter, the volume of acquisition of Robux virtual currency, necessary for making purchases during the gameplay, increased by 23% year-on-year, amounting to $ 773 million.
Roblox CFO Michael Guthrie said he expects more bookings to be processed with credit cards and prepaid cards, which will have a positive impact on margins.
Baszucki said that the growth rate of bookings year-on-year has already exceeded the growth rate of the cost of sales year-on-year because the community has many ways to spend money on Roblox.
In March, the number of developers who made a profit as a result of interacting with the gaming platform increased by 63% year-on-year, exceeding 4 million people. Cash receipts to the community in the first quarter amounted to $ 182 million. This result is 24% higher than in the same period last year.
Roblox is currently testing its intra-platform advertising system, which involves more than 200 developers. There is no detailed information about this system.
Voice functions and artificial intelligence play a big role in Roblox. Since the beginning of 2023, voice functions have been used by almost 9% of daily users over the age of 13 in the United States. The company has also implemented a system for synchronizing the movement of the player’s lips as part of the strategy of full animation of avatars performing actions in the virtual world. This decision is consistent with the company’s concept of supporting social communication, which is an alternative to social networks.
Roblox has launched two accelerators to create artificial intelligence. One of them is a generator of materials in 3-D dimensions. If, for example, a user wants to create a brick wall in the virtual universe, the AI will build it. The second accelerator provides experiments with code, allowing you to create new scenarios in the game space.
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